←Recommendations of LEMURIA

I saw a reading of LEMURIA at the 2026 Colorado New Play Summit last month and fell in love - have not stopped thinking about this play since! I was instantly endeared to Sebastian and M, and loved the complexity (and toxicity - and how love can coexist with it) of the relationships among Miriam, Reagan, and Anabelle. LEMURIA brilliantly captures the complicated boundaries of mentorship and competition, and also finds plenty of time and space for delightful whimsy in the form of lemurs.

LEMURIA is charming and fulfilling. I loved the research and specificity that illuminates the entire story. Even though we may not be lemur experts, the script trusts us to learn as we go, quickly and cleverly establishing the lab’s hierarchy of characters, and their various hearts’ desires. Delicious, educational, and unapologetically sexy.

Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre company in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize Lemuria by Bonnie Antosh as a Semi-Finalist for the 2024 Premiere Play Festival. Lemuria rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 48 Semi-Finalists out of 760 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by Bonnie’s use of dreamlike anthropomorphism to explore environmental issues and complex relationships, and Sophie’s sensitive and vivid exploration of teenage pressures particularly resonated. Our congratulations and thanks to Bonnie.

A smart ensemble piece centering around a lab full of diverse and dynamic characters. It has the perfect balance of heart and comedy while not shying away from the nature of an academic setting. It has something for everyone, but especially for those not usually represented in the scientific community. Plus lemur puppets!

An excellent play about the ways humans and animals connect with each other. PRODUCE THIS PLAY!!

I am so excited about this play from so many angles. Playwright Antosh synthesizes scientific contexts, human storytelling, and power dynasties as seen in King Lear. "Lemuria" artfully invites readers and audiences into the Lemur Lab in Eastern North Carolina peopled by complex experts and novices alike. From here, an adventure in the contemporary age begins as we are exposed to the romantic, familial, and oppositional relationships bubbling underneath a calm and academic surface. Fully recommend "Lemuria" for those seeking a breath of fresh-if swampy-air and renewed inquiry into frequently female decisions about how we serve ourselves and future others.